The subject matter herein relates generally to backplane or midplane communication systems that utilize large circuit boards with electrical connectors mounted thereto.
Backplane or midplane communication systems, such as network systems, servers, data centers, and the like, use large circuit boards, known as backplanes or midplanes, to interconnect daughter card assemblies. In a conventional system, the circuit board has an array of electrical connectors mounted thereto. The daughter card assemblies, which may be line card assemblies or switch card assemblies, include a daughter card, such as a circuit board, having one or more data connectors positioned along a leading edge of the daughter card. Each of the data connectors is configured to mate with one of the electrical connectors. The electrical connectors are communicatively coupled to one another by traces that are routed through the circuit board. Accordingly, two daughter card assemblies may be communicatively coupled to one another through the traces of the circuit board.
Recently, market demand has been toward communication systems with greater throughput and/or complexity. For example, a density of electrical connectors, a density of signal paths through the system, a speed of data transmission, and an overall area of the circuit board have generally increased. As a result, it has become more challenging to effectively route the traces through the circuit board while maintaining a baseline level of signal quality. For example, it is known that the longer a trace extends through a circuit board, the greater the likelihood that the signal quality will decrease. To maintain the desired baseline level of signal quality while increasing trace length, known systems have used additional devices, such as re-timers, or have used traces formed from a different material. Either of these options can be relatively expensive.
At least some of these conventional systems have been replaced by cabled communication systems. In a cabled system, cable connectors are mechanically mounted to the circuit board (or other structure, such as sheet metal) and are communicatively coupled to one another through cables. The cable connectors may operate in a similar manner as the electrical connectors of the conventional system. By using cables, communication systems may avoid the use of traces through the circuit board and, in some cases, may avoid using the circuit board entirely. However, the cabled systems can be more expensive than the conventional systems that utilize a circuit board with traces.
Accordingly, a need remains for a backplane or midplane communication system that has a sufficient throughput and is cost effective.